15 Games
1 Fighting Fantasy
I played a lot of these as a kid - they primed me for roleplaying and are responsible for pretty much everything else on this list.
2 D&D
Broadly speaking, my life from age 11 onwards can be mapped out in the D&D campaigns I've planned, played or run. Whether it's the adventures of Linaithal (elven thief, drug addict, layabout and exiled prince) who I played on and off from 1988 to 1995 or a motely parade of amnesiac wizardlings, princesses, knights and disreputable half-dragons I have a trremendous amount of fun playing them. But even more than I've played D&D I've run it, and while a bunch of those games have been abortive or disasterous others have been real successes and all of it has contributed to me learning to be a decent GM.
And then there's the folders full of setting ideas, the carefully drawn maps and campaigns that have never been used but have let me work out my ideas and vent my creativity over the years. This is one of those things that D&D does really well, and I think it's a pity other games have never really encouraged this idea.
3 Football
On occasion I've said that football saved my life. There's no hyperbole here - back in '96 at one of the lowest points in my life, it was only caring about the England-Scotland match in Euro '96 - and at this point I was really totally uninterested in sport - that stopped me from killing myself. Ever since I've had a deep and growing love for the game - whether it's England, Arsenal or Brentford.
4 Final Fantasy VII
This is the game that turned me into a console gamer. I was house-hunting and crashing on a friend's sofa, when I came down with 'flu. For three days I couldn't move, and watching Dom play FFVII game me something to concentrate on. Eventually I got my own PS and copy of the game and went on a long console RPG rampage - the other FF games, Grandia, Lunar & Magic Knights Rayearth. Usefully for me, console RPGs set my minimum standards for a game: if it's less fun than playing FF, then it's a waste of my time.
5 Championship Manager
Oh yeah! Brentford to the Champions League Quarter finals. Three Intercontinental Cups in a row with Leeds. Serge Makofo my amazing right back - 20 dribbling and 20 shooting . Six Goals in his first three England Games. Them were the days, always time for one more match before turning in. .
6 Street Fighter
RPGs weren't the only things I played on the PS - I was a dab hand at Street Fighter and other beat-em-ups. Ah for the cheesey take-downs and glorious come-backs.
7 Marvel Super Heroes
We played a lot of this at school - my first superhero RPG and one that still works a treat. It also meshed my love of comics with gaming.
8 Weapons of the Gods
My favourite set of rules ever. WotG has fantastic martial arts rules that make really interesting tactically exciting fights. It's got a system for magic/ medicine/ social combat that is complicated but just creates interesting play. Right now I'm just waiting for the next edition before I run a new campaign.
9 Vampire
Really my first venture into grown-up gaming, I really loved this game, but as a game I don't think it ever lived up to its potential.
10 Amber
Diceless games. Politics. Family squabbles. PCs being bullied by their parents. I loved Amber - the books are great and the strong NPCs make a great setting for a game. Raphael was a favourite character of mine, always a pleasure to play.
11 Ars Magica
A guilty secret of mine is that while I love AM, I've never quite got to grips with creating a character that I like in it. On the other hand I've played a bunch of campaigns and the mechanics of the game have been a total inspiration to me.
12 Call of Cthulhu
I never really got to play CoC at school, since it didn't appeal to many of my school group. I finally got the chance to play some campaigns here in Bristol, which were always great, great fun, even if I always died. I love this game to bits.
13 Tides
My first serious venture into running FATE, with a plot that I'd been batting around for ages. It had mechs, moon missions, submerged cities and robot angels. I was pretty proud of how things worked out.
14 The Mountain Witch
Kalyn ran this with a handpicked team of players, all of whom were GMs. One of my first indie games, with contests for narrative control and all the rest; we got some really interesting plot out of this as well. Really good fun.
15 Secrets of Susarra
My baby, which Chris G helped me raise to maturity. We're on the second year at Gamesoc, and have twenty players. I'm really proud.